The history of the NFL logo

​The National Football League logo, with its iconic shield design, is one of the most recognizable sports images in the world. Introduced around 1940, the logo has undergone changes over the decades, but it has remained more or less true to its original intent and form, bar the creative strokes of the ages it has lived through.

​Over the years, the logo acquired some of the elements that define its modern look, including several revisions, with some of its most significant ones happening in the early 1960s, 1984, and most recently - in 2008.

Why and when was the NFL logo invented?

The original NFL logo was introduced in 1940, 20-odd years after the league was founded. It was meant to represent unity and to consolidate the league’s teams and give them a purpose and a sense of belonging.

​Up until that point, NFL teams would exclusively rely on their own signage and branding, which is no surprise. But publicly, this cornucopia of imagery led to confusion and even made it look as if the teams were not competing in the same sport.

NFL Logo 1940

To address this, the first version of the logo arrived circa 1940. It was drawn like the shield we all know today, minus the stylizing part, and it included 22 stars, used for purely stylistic reasons and not to represent anything specific. The original logo also had stripes in two alternate colors that ran down the shield where the letters "NFL" were visible, and which were later removed.

The era of the pinstripes 1950-1960s

These stripes with faint alternating colors were replaced by pinstripes between 1950 and the early 1960s, and this marked one of the most distinct changes to the logo. The logo still had 22 stars visible.

​From the 1960s to 1983

Then, in the 1960s, and a few years ahead of a merger with another league, the AFL, the logo got rid of pinstripes and removed colors from the text area entirely, keeping a white background, making the letters NFL even more visible. In this version, there were 23 stars visible.

​The NFL has been clearly harping on patriotic strings from the very start of the logo in its design and choice of imagery, and this version was already more or less the one we all know today.

The logo gets a redo in 1984

Then, in the 1980s (most likely in 1984), the logo was tweaked once again with a thicker blue border and a brighter monogram. The logo had 23 stars visible, and it truly looked like its modern self. It is possible that the design of this version was meant to have 25 stars that were hidden by the ball over them.

And now, the logo from 2008 to the present day

The next big change to the NFL logo then came in 2008, when the league decided to give the logo a fresh polish, and this time consolidated the logo’s stars by reducing them to just eight, meant to represent the eight divisions of the league. In other words, the stars were finally given actual meaning, representing something that directly pertains to the sport and league.

​The fewer stars made the logo pop even more. All told, the NFL logo has been revised several times, a homage to its legacy and staying power, and near-perfect execution from the very start.

NFL Logo Timeline of Important Dates

• 1940: The logo was initially introduced around 1940 as a way to unify the National Football League’s teams and create a common representation. The logo featured 22 stars from the start.
• 1960s: The logo was revised to get rid of its stripes in the 1960s, and it had 23 stripes visible in that iteration.
• 1980s: Another tweak was applied to the logo, featuring a thicker blue border and a brighter monogram. It still had 23 stars, but the design may have been meant to have 25 - the last two hidden by the football.
• 2008: In 2008, the logo was once again stylized to only include eight stars, giving it a cleaner, minimalistic, and more authoritative polish

Where is the NFL logo headed next?

This is not the end of the road for the NFL logo, but the fact that it only needed several revisions in its 86-odd years, and that those revisions came out of genuine ambition to reflect the long way the league has come, is proof enough that the National Football League has built one of the most impactful, meaningful, and recognizable sports brand assets in history.